SINGAPORE- Chicago soybean futures edged higher with the market recouping some of previous session’s deep losses, although fears that the coronavirus outbreak will curb demand in top importer China kept prices near a three-week low.
Wheat rose, while corn futures were largely unchanged.
“There is lots of uncertainty around coronavirus at present which makes it hard to predict market direction,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.
“Overall, I think Chinese demand will be limited by the coronavirus and the hangover from swine fever.”
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade added 0.3 percent at $8.85-1/4 a bushel, having closed 1.8 percent weaker on Monday.
Fears mounted that the coronavirus outbreak in China will grow into a pandemic with disruptive and deadly consequences for countries around the world, after sharp rises in infections in South Korea, Italy and Iran and first cases found in Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq.
African swine fever has reduced China’s pig herd by more than 40 percent, resulting in lower demand for the key animal feed ingredient soymeal.
The US Department of Agriculture at its annual Outlook Forum last week projected a sharp increase in US corn supplies in the 2020/21 season but a tightening of soybean stocks to a four-year low. – Reuters
